Late April Skiing in Alps (Val Thorens perhaps?) with beginner kids

A snowHead

Hello all,

We have organised a cheapo holiday to Borovets in March for our first skiing trip for 11 years. We now have 3 kids (10,8 & 5) who have never skiied but will be learning in Bulgaria.

The bug is back and I am wondering if I could jam in a late season, last min budget trip to France in April. I am thinking week of the 23rd (3 bank hols etc) and thinking about somewhere high like Val Thorens.

If I drive, self-cater and take all the food then we can save quite alot of money. What I cannot save on is Ski School. My wife and I would not have lessons but I need to put 3 kids into ski-school for at least half the day, ideally with lunch. The youngest may need an option to be in kindergarten as I really don't think he will cope with ski school in the AM and family skiing in the PM for 6 days!

This is the bit that really pushes the price up and therefore the bit I need to get at the best value. I want to kids to have snow on beginners slopes hence resort height is important. From the ESF site it looks like our kids would probably qualify for the level where ski pass is included.

VT looks better value than Val d'Isere or Tignes but is there anywhere else where we could pretty much be assured of snow at that time of year? Is there anywhere else where we might get even better value?

I will be looking for accommodation and ski hire as well.

Any comments/thoughts would be most appreciated.

cheers

jez

A snowHead

Might i be the first to suggest the Family bash

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=68569

and the EOSB the following week if those dates suit better

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=67092

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

pigbite, Why not Sierra Nevada, Spain, Its cheaper for U to fly Ryanair to Malaga and take bus to Sierra Nevada skiresort,, there is also possible to have nice price with taxi, Sierra Nevada closed around the 1th of May, but there use to be snow left, Spain is a skiing country that is ussually good with the snow,,

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@nbt - SFaB11 sounds great but the price is going to be too much for a second trip without chucking out the summer holiday. Also it really will have to be a last min thing IF we have the spons. Just to give you an idea of my mad cheapo budget....

Tunnel - £100 (£106 actually....)
Fuel - £400
Tolls - not sure yet but say £100
Weeks shopping - £200
Last min apt - £500
2 x VT area passes - £250
ESF school for kids (AM with lunch), passes included £550
Ski hire (skis for me & my wife, full kit for kids) - £250

Total.... £2350.

Even that is a push 'cos I really need to get it closer to 2k to have any chance of doing it. No fancy meals out for us Sad

but the chance of another 6 top days skiing Happy

Any other resorts pop into mind? Guess the fact that the SFaB11 and EOSB are end of April mean snow is good so no questions there....

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@freeheelskier - Spain is an interesting thought. I'll take a look...

You'll need to Register first of course.

pigbite, I still say,,, look for Spain Very Happy

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Whereabout are you driving from? Is it possible to fly from London to Geneva with Easyjet? Recently paid £40 return to Geneva for half term flights. If you managed that price plus £40 return transfer from Geneva, that would be £90 per head, £450 transport, saves £150. Argentiere has a late season MBU family pass for 5 of you for £450 for 6 days, ski school is £109 for 6 days per child, pretty comparable to Val Thorens. With sport 2000 in Argentiere and Val Thorens, you can get ski hire for the 5 of you for £173. Not sure what Argentiere/Le tour is like for late season skiing on the beginners areas though, the best area for beginners is Le Tour which is at the bottom, the top of the mountain is usually open until early May.

After all it is free

wildnoon, Argentieré for a familiy with small kids,,, Puzzled

pigbite, you say the bug is back but you're still planning a summer holiday.
I'd say the bug has nibbled but not bitten you hard yet.

p.s. think about La Thuile in Italy - it's high and N facing and just the other side of the Mont Blanc tunnel from Chamonix so a decent drive.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Higs, La Thuile closed the weekend pigbite, want to travel Sad

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

That's a shame.
We should organise a sit-in or something so they stay open.

snow reports

Higs, take a look at their homesite,,
http://www.espacesanbernardo.com/
The Bernardo skiarea closed the 25th Sad

pigbite,

I know of an apartment in Val Thorens that's free for the last week in April... wink

You know it makes sense.

Bergmeister, when you say free I assume you mean "not occupied" as opposed to "no cost" wink

I'll check the link....

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

wildnoon, coming from West Sussex so LGW is an option. I had assumed flights would be at least £100 return each plus transfers and parking. I'll look at Argentiere as well.

A snowHead

wildnoon, Just looked at the piste map for Argentiere and I can see what freeheelskier is saying. There is only a red down to the village and not alot of blues for the kids. Rest of it looks fun for me and my wife though!

A snowHead

Higs, not thought of La Thuile but it's not a bad idea - just have to go a week earlier. One of our last pre kids trips was to La Rossiere and enoyed skiing some of that area before. Does north facing not mean lots of am ice though with the benefit of less slush in the afternoon?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

freeheelskier, Looked at Sierra Nevada and will keep that one in the back pocket. As I mentioned upstairs, this trip will definately be a last min thing if we can get the spons together so it's really a case of looking at the cost at the time. Flights are the one thing will change in cost, usually upwards, but we can look and see...

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Try Les Deux Alpes pigbite, skiing should be fine still late April. Would need to check what ESF are doing then, but over Christmas they were offering full day kids lessons, with 2.5 hours break over lunch where they fed and watered the kids.

Not sure on the cost as ours was thrown in with the cost of our stay at the hotel. You may also get a deal on lift passes late on in the season, but I can't be 100% sure of that.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Cheers hammerite, been to LDA before. I expect the glacier will be fine but thinking more about the nursery slopes for the kids. It would be a big shame if that was slush or even bare.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

pigbite, I think Val T is the right choice of resort.

Accommodation wise I would expect no more than £400.

What sort of car do you have - £400 does a bit steep? If you drive 70mph you can save some money on fuel!

TBH, if you really want to save money then don't put the kids in ski school. They will have done one week in school in March so there is no reason why they can't just get some miles under their ski's with the odd pointer from mum and dad. The money you saved you could perhaps stretch to a couple of hours private tuition if they need it.

Another potential money saver is to buy some cheap kit before you go rather than hiring. I suspect there will be a bit of a sell off on here and ebay towards the end of the season. It may save you money now, or cost no more than hiring but save money on next years trip.

Don't have any tesco vouchers do you? If so swap them for Eurotunnel vouchers. If not, go by ferry instead. If you use Norfolkline it should be cheaper then the tunnel though obv take longer.

After all it is free

Try this for an offer on the channel crossing http://www.ferrysavers.co.uk/eshots/Jan2011/Jan2011.htm?utm_source=email_Jan2011&utm_medium=eshot&utm_campaign=webpage_text

As for LDA, they'd take the kids up to Cretes, or maybe up to the Glacier if snow was no good in the town. There'd be nothing wrong with one week skiers going up there. They don't have to ski all the way down, could download in the Jandri.

kitenski,
!4 quid seems very little for tolls from Calais to VT. I pay 15 euro from Lyon to VT.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

£14 is certainly wrong. It's a lot more.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

kitenski/Layne

Thanks for the comments. Petrol/toll costs are interesting. I'd not checked on ViaM yet so was just estimating using 2 tanks each way and it's getting close to £100 to fill up now Sad

Based on your comments it would be alot cheaper - it's only a 1.8 Audi A4. I was planning on taking food but making some allowances for something on the slopes in terms of hot choccy/coffee even if we take our own snacks.

Again, accommodation was an estimate so if we could get something SC for well under £500 it would be fantastic.

The only thing I am pretty sure we do need is ski-school for the kids. I agree that we could ski with the older two pretty much all day if they come on enough in March and we are realistic about not pushing them too much but I would like to be able to go places that they would not cope with for some of the time. 2-3 hours of adult skiing in the morning and another couple of hours of fun family stuff in the afternoon makes for happy kids and happy parents! The other thing is that our 5 year will need some kind of snow-garden as it really would be silly to expect him to do all day with the rest of us even if we didn't do ski school with the older two.

Tesco vouchers for the tunnel would work except we may not make the trip until last min and there is a turn around time of up to 4 weeks for vouchers....

snow reports

ViaM tells me it's 715 miles to VT (from home) and just under £50 in tolls. So my guesstimate of £100 is pretty much spot on. Fuel it says is £70 but I take that with a big pinch of salt. I could probably get 550-600 miles off a tank full in my car so we are really talking around 1.5 tanks each way. A tank is over £80 with the recent hikes so £240 is reasonable. Less than £400 I grant you, but not £70.

You know it makes sense.

Well you don't have to pay any tolls if you don't want to. Can go Calais to Val Thorens for zilch.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

If you use the autoroutes I reckon on Euro 70 each way to drive to Tignes from Calais.
It is about 630miles, I don't think VT is much different although I've never driven there.
If your car is a diesel it'll save a lot on fual as the French seem to be anti petrol (Euro 1.50 a litre) as opposed to diesel Euro 1.30 a litre.
I have driven to and fro loads of times over the last 3 years and if you do as much food shopping as you can here and take it in the car with you I don't think there is a cheaper way of doing it. I'm sure there are plenty who will say that's wrong though......

A snowHead

pam w, like the saddo that I am was just curious how long a non m-way journey would take. Just short of 15 hours. Only 550 miles too, although I'm guessing that it would be a more stop/start route so less economical on fuel.

We drove back one summer from a holiday in Alpe d'Huez (watching TdF) mainly using D roads, and skirting up the western side of Paris instead of East. We'd planned a leisurely drive back stopping overnight half way, and it was lovely. Got to see a lot more of the countryside. This way wouldn't be my priority for a winter trip with potentially dodgy driving conditions, although April shouldn't be too bad.

A snowHead

I don't think £200 for shopping to feed (and drink) a family of 5 for a week is a lot! That's £28 a day - I could feed a family well for that, including a nice bottle of vino for Mum and Dad for supper, but it's hardly OTT. About right, I'd say, unless you want to live on lentil soup and Tesco Value sausages. A big coolbox full of frozen chicken joints, steaks, sausages, bacon, etc would be a great start.

On the other hand, you could look just at marginal costs, and decide that eating is "free" if you just take the sort of stuff you'd eat at home, however much it costs.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I've tried avoiding the tolls once and would NOT recommend it.

The reason I mentioned not ski schooling is the potential for being a deal breaker. If it made the difference between going and not going. Only you or your wife need to bail out with the youngster. The other 3 can carry on. My 5yo recently was able to stay out for quite a few hours. And what was also in my mind was that at the time you are going it's likely to warm and sunny. So long picnics at lunch time... anyway not trying to force the issue, just food for thought.

I think your £100 tolls, £240 petrol sounds good. And you are right to factor the odd coffee and what not into your food bill. An occasional treat is a necessity in my book.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

It would be a toll journey. We would be travelling through the night and so seeing the countryside not an issue. No overnight stops so got to be done in one hit therefore steady travel on the autoroutes is the pragmatic thing. I love the N roads but even though they are good they are slower, even at night. If I was going by bike then it would be a different story wink

(N roads to Le Mans for the 24hrs is great if you are on a bike)

Good point Layne about ski-school should that be a deal breaker. I guess we will know more after we've been to Bulgaria but I know what my gut feel is. What things did you get up to with your child when skiing too much for them? Did you find it frustrating not being able to be with the rest of the family or had you got into a "it is what it is" mindset?

I must also say what a helpful and generous bunch all the responders have been. No ones made any sarcastic comments, been down on anyone else's comments or laughed me off the board for my stingyness!

Thanks again for all the comments so far!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

pigbite, To throw another option into the mix. How about a summer holiday near somewhere like Les 2 Alpes where you can do summer skiing on the glacier with loads of activities to do nearby. We stayed here http://www.alarencontredusoleil.com/ one year and some days skied in the morning and sunbathed by the pool in the afternoon.

You'll need to Register first of course.

And there's Easiski in Les 2 Alpes for lessons too.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

pigbite, as Ray Zorro, says a summer holiday is a pretty good idea. We're staying nearby for our summer holiday this year. Granted we're going because I'm racing out there, but after the race we'll have a morning/day up on the glacier at L2A. There's easily enough to do in the area over summer without needing to ski everyday.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Summer skiing sounds great but we've already planned a late autumn trip to Goa. Worth bearing in mind for next year as I've not really thought about it before.

I think that it comes down to a choice between Les Deux Alpes, Val Thoren or La Thuile (if we go a week earlier) and have to spend no more than 2k. Just so long as the ski schools are able to go 2000m or above then the kids should be fine snow wise.

All I need now is confirmation on an unexpected contract and all's good Happy

Help!!

Late April Skiing in Alps (Val Thorens perhaps?) with beginner kids

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports